It’s a massive week at the Rugby World Cup in France with the two leading teams, the Springboks and Ireland going head-to-head in Paris.

The Pool B clash in Saint-Denis will be the biggest game at the 2023 tournament, after the opening game in which the French beat the All Blacks 27-13.

The match between the reigning world champions South Africa and the top-ranked Ireland will no doubt determine who finishes on top of the Pool, and who will take France and New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

As matters stand, Ireland tops the group with ten points following two bonus point wins, while the Boks are in second, with nine points, but crucially they managed to beat Scotland.

Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi - Adam Pretty - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images

The Springbok coach, Jacques Nienaber, said for now the important thing is to focus on this week’s match to give themselves a chance of reaching the knockout rounds.

“It will be a good game to see who finishes one and two in the pool, but there's still games to play, so I don't want to get too far ahead. If it's Italy, if it's France, New Zealand, it's going to be a tough quarter-final, it doesn't matter who we play,” said Nienaber who will leave the Springboks after the World Cup.

“From a selection point of view, we're open and honest with the players, they know what we're thinking and we'll share that with them even tonight.

“We have an idea in our minds what we want to do for the next game. It's nice that there's such good internal competition within this group and positive competition. There's not a big gap between the players.”

The Irish in turn are super confident going into this week’s match as they have recorded an 82-8 win against Romania, while on the weekend they beat Tonga 56-16.

While they have managed two impressive wins so far, they have opted to field their strongest possible teams, while the Boks have given all of their players some time on the park.

The Boks will certainly go into the Test a bit fresher, but have long stated that defending their title will be a squad effort.

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The Irish do have good momentum and the coach, Andy Farrell, stressed that this will be important, especially for this week’s clash.

“We know the task in hand, we're playing against a great side in South Africa but that's what you want, that's what the World Cup is all about, rolling into weeks like this.

“We’re two-from-two, building nicely, but this is a bit of a different week, a special week but it's something that we'll relish.

“We’re not ready quite yet, but we certainly will be. It’s something that we’ve talked about quite a bit, obviously with the opponents that we knew we were going to face.”

Saturday’s big clash between the Springboks and Ireland at Stade de France kicks off at 21:00.

Meanwhile, the week’s matches at the Rugby World Cup will kick-off on Wednesday evening with Italy in action against Uruguay in Nice, while on Thursday night it will be another tough one for Namibia when they tackle France in Marseille.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport